San Fiore, 1988

Raised in an Italian-American blue-collar family in Southern California, David Settino Scott became interested in art while touring the museums of Europe when he was serving in the US Navy. Following his studies in San Bernardino and Claremont where he studied painting with Hilda Mohle, David Settino Scott tried to adapt to the contemporary art trends that prevailed in the 1960s and 1970s. But these failed to “capture his heart,” and he withdrew from the art world to take up flying and work as a model maker on Hollywood films with screen credits in “Star Wars” and “Caddy Shack.”

David Settino Scott has been a full time artist since moving to San Luis Obispo County in 1985. He currently works out of his studio in San Miguel. He writes, “I am glad to be an artist, I like the life style that it presents, the wonderful people and experiences it brings to me. At times, I have loved making art and at other times I have resisted it and denied my involvement with it.. But, I am most centered when I am working; I know this. I try to be as centered when I am sweeping the floor. Both are difficult, making art and sweeping the floor.”

David Settino Scott has had many solo exhibitions in California musuems. “A Pure Working” at the then San Luis Obispo Art Center in 2000 was a seminal example of his sculpture. That exhibition went on to travel to the Fresno Art Museum. His one man exhibition entitled “California Primitive” in 2010 at the San Luis Obispo Art Center featured his paintings and mixed media artwork.

This painting was donated to the San Luis Obispo Museum of Art’s permanent collection by Bruce & Donna Polichar in 2014.